10 LEGITIMACY VERSUS INDUSTRIALISM
began to seern no longer invincible, Francis was the last of the
great monarchs to join the coalition against him. Throughout
all the years of trouble, Austria had always been willing to
profit by any bargain that Napoleon cared to propose, and as
the result of a policy that aimed at expediency rather than
heroism, the Austrian army, though large, had distinguished
itself less tb^r> that of Prussia in the campaigns of 1813 and
1814, This policy was due, not to Francis, but to his minister,
Metternich, who, having entered the service of his Emperor at an
early age, was left in charge of foreign affairs as soon as he had
taken well to heart that all change was unwelcome to his master.
Relieved of external responsibility, Francis was free to concen-
trate upon the more congenial task of regulating the internal
administration of his Empire. The judicial system was so cen-
tralized that the details of the most trivial prosecutions came to
his notice, and, having a taste for such matters, he interested
himself even in the conduct of executions. He rarely revised a
sentence, and never exercised the prerogative of mercy. In his
closest associates he inspired no affection, and to the rest of the
world he was practically unknown.
Frederick William, though hig troops had distinguished them-
selves, had won even less personal respect than the Emperor of
Austria, While Austria was being battered in 1805, Prussia re-
mained a vacillating spectator, to be crushed in" the following
year at Jena, where all the prestige derived from Frederick the
Great was dissipated in a day. The poor king was compelled to
take refuge in the extreme eastern corner of M» dominions^ and
when, in 1807, Alexander and Napoleon made friends at Tilsit,
he sent his beautiful Queen to intercede for him with the two
Emperors. Napoleon was unmoved, but the gallant Alexander
liked to think of himself as the champion of beauty in distress.
The result was a treaty in which Napoleon declared that, out of
deference to the wishes of Alexander, he permitted Frederick
William to retain a portion of his former kingdom. Frederick
William's gratitude to Alexander was warm and lasting, but to
the very end he continued to be unreliable, owing to his
hesitating temperament, and thereby earned the contempt even
of his closest allies.
George 331, after losing the American colonies and forbidding
Htt to introduce Catholic Emancipation, had been belatedly cer-
tified as insane, but was still King of England His functions
were executed by the Prince Regent, an elderly beau, much